Daylighted Campaign - use dipped headlights during the day?

IKnowYou

Refer to:
http://www.roadsafetymayo.ie/RoadsafetyCampaigns/DayTimeRunningLights/

Personally I think it really does not make sense. I think I can see just as well a car with or without dipped headlights during the day.

What evidence do they have that having the headlights on reduces accidents?

Instead of having these silly campaigns I believe they should campaign for better roads. Roads in this country consists of narrow single lanes, killer bents, and uneven surfaces.

Heck, even traffic calming islands (ridiculous things IMO) cause accidents.

Dream Killary holiday turns to tragedy for Dublin teens
"..As the group approached the village, the people carrier went out of control and struck a traffic island which serves as a calming measure for traffic travelling between Dublin and Galway..."

I do not see these traffic calming islands being used widely in other countries that have lower accident rates.


Why is there such illogical state of things?

jameshayes

I drive with my lights on constantly, never turn them off.. It makes cars much more noticeable, yes - you can see cars well during the day - but even better when lights are on...

Zynks

I agree with all your points about the state of the roads & over-optimistic (or delusional) measures. However, during winter months daylight is rather low, and the lights do actually help, specially when cars have a similar colour to the background or the tarmac.

Ginger

Try seeing a motorbike without the lights.. its quite difficult..

I prefer if all drivers drove with dipped lights, it gives an extra visual clue that you are they, especially as moving light instantly maes you aware of it.

mikemac

Since 2003 due to some EU regulation , it's not possible to turn off lights on a motorcycle.
You have dims and full and that's it!

Having said that I bought a 05 motorcycle and you could turn off the lights. But I had two scooters also and they only had dims or full lights.
So if you see bikes going around with lights on, now you know why.
Not a bad idea

po0k

IKnowYou wrote: »

Instead of having these silly campaigns I believe they should campaign for better roads. Roads in this country consists of narrow single lanes, killer bents, and uneven surfaces.

Agreed

Heck, even traffic calming islands (ridiculous things IMO) cause accidents.

Dream Killary holiday turns to tragedy for Dublin teens
"..As the group approached the village, the people carrier went out of control and struck a traffic island which serves as a calming measure for traffic travelling between Dublin and Galway..."

I do not see these traffic calming islands being used widely in other countries that have lower accident rates.

Not having the report to hand, that sounds like someone was going too fast, didn't know the road, wasn't paying attention or all the above.

Until the heavy inter-city traffic nolonger goes through villages and towns, traffic islands make sense.
And they're massive. With big 60/50kmpg signs either side. And lights.

OT: having your dips on during the day doesn't make any difference to you, but towards dusk, people can be slow turning on their lights. The extra bit of illumination doesn't hurt.

EamonnKeane

People should honk their horns nonstop instead. That way you'd never miss them

flogen

IKnowYou wrote: »

What evidence do they have that having the headlights on reduces accidents?

I remember hearing some reference the better safety records in Scandinavian countries, where cars are mandated to be sold with daytime running lamps (that you can't turn off) due to the fact that winter days are quite dark there, and in some cases completely devoid of natural light for extended periods of time even in "day" hours.

Of course that could just be because they're safer drivers and could have nothing to do with their lights being on - but in terms of scientific study this FAQ references a lot of research on the matter which shows it does improve safety.

There are numerous logical reasons for how it would make a difference. On extremely overcast days, light levels can be at dusk-quality even in the afternoon and on narrow roads that are heavily overshadowed by buildings or trees a lot of natural light can be cut off (indeed the latter is an example used in a campaign poster I saw for using lights during the day).

Instead of having these silly campaigns I believe they should campaign for better roads. Roads in this country consists of narrow single lanes, killer bents, and uneven surfaces.

Heck, even traffic calming islands (ridiculous things IMO) cause accidents.

No-one's suggesting it's a case of one or the other - you can have these "silly campaigns" and simultaneously deal with dangerous roads... it just so happens that various councils may not be doing that.

Personally if it's a choice between having these campaigns and no road improvement, and having no campaign and no road improvement I know what I'd pick.

Dream Killary holiday turns to tragedy for Dublin teens
"..As the group approached the village, the people carrier went out of control and struck a traffic island which serves as a calming measure for traffic travelling between Dublin and Galway..."

I do not see these traffic calming islands being used widely in other countries that have lower accident rates.

As someone has already said it seems hard to believe that this accident was caused by the island but was more likely caused by high speed or a failure to pay attention to the road. I'm just assuming that but I find it hard to see how a car could strike an island at enough speed to cause such tragedy if the driver was going the limit and was completely aware of the oncoming island.

If you wrapped your car around a tree would it be your fault for driving onto the path or the tree's fault for being there?